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The Apostle John begins his gospel with the words; “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). John was a Hebrew and his words reflect the ancient rabbinical writings of the Targums which are commentaries of the scriptures. The Targums predate the Midrash and the Talmud.
God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. - I Peter 5:15 from Isaiah 57:15
The Memra and the Messiah
These commentaries are replete with references to a Being that co-existed with God called the “Mimra” or “Memra” as it is spelled today. While some argue that the Mimra is referring to the attributes of God, including His word, and is not a distinct entity; out of the 596 times the word Mimra appears in the Targums, over half of those references are “personalized.” (Ibid Vol II pp659-664).
Jesus said that He pre-existed with God. –
John 17:5 And now, O Father, You glorify Me with Your own Self with the glory which I had with You before the world was.
John 6:38 For I came down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him that sent Me.
John 8:23 And He said to them, “You are from beneath; I am from above: you are of this world; I am not of this world.”
John 6:51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eats of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
John 3:13 And no man has ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.
John 6:62 What and if you shall see the Son of man ascend up where He was before?
Is Jesus the Mimra? You decide.
The following is a brief summary of some of the personalized references to the Mimra.
Genesis 1:27 – “And the LORD’S Mimra created man” (Targum Yerushalmi).
The Mimra is seen as the agent of creation. The Apostle Paul was merely reiterating the previous Rabbinical thought when he said, “For by Him (Jesus) were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or powers: all things were created by Him and for Him - Colossians 1:16
And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world has been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Messiah. – Ephesians 3:9
Genesis 16:13 – Hagar speaks with “the angel of the LORD” “The LORD’s Mimra.” (Yerushalmi)
Genesis 22 - Abraham speaks with “The LORD’s Mimra.” “The LORD’s Mimra himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering (Yerushalmi).
Genesis 28:20 - Jacob says, “ If the LORD’S Mimra will be with me… then the LORD’s Mimra will be my God.” (Ongelos)
Deuteronomy 8 - “If you will accept the LORD’S Mimra so that the LORD’S Mimra will be your God” (Ongelos).
Those who claim that Christians are idolaters for worshipping God through His image (John 14:9, Colossians 1:15) would not be considered idolaters according to the Rabbis who saw nothing wrong in accepting God’s Mimra on an equal basis with God. “I and My Father are One” (John 10:30). Thus the New Testament writers were consistent with Rabbinical theology in their acceptance of Jesus as the Mimra of God, who was “with God and was God.”
Genesis 15:6 – “Abraham believed in the LORD’S Mimra , and it was credited to him as righteousness.” (Ongelos).
The gospel is that righteousness is imparted to the believer through faith in Jesus, the Mimra.
Isaiah 45:17 and 25 produced this commentary “Israel will be saved by the LORD”S Mimra.” “Through the instrumentality of the LORD’S Mimra they will be made righteous.” (Jonathan).
Hosea 1:7 – “Yet I will show love to the house of Judah, and I will save them by their God, the LORD’S Mimra.” (Jonathan)
This is consistent with the New Testaments theology that salvation is obtained through faith in Jesus and believers are not justified by the law. Thus we can see that the sages, by the Holy Spirit, were actually prophesying of the New Covenant through their interpretations.
Exodus 20:1 – The law was given through the Mimra. “And the LORD’S Mimra spoke all these words.”(Yerushalmi).
Jesus said that God gave Him His words (John 14:10, 17:8).
Numbers 10:35 – Moses refers to the Mimra when he prays – “Rise up, O LORD!...Rise up O Mimra of the LORD!” …Return O Mimra of the LORD! (Yerushalmi).
Here Moses addresses the two, God and the Mimra.
Exodus 14:31 - “They believed in the LORD’S Mimra and in the prophecy of His servant Moses (Ongelos).
Deuteronomy 33:27 reads, - “The eternal God is your refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms.” This verse inspires this interpretation in the Targum as “These arms are the Mimra, through whom the world was created.” (Ongelos)
The arm of the Lord is mentioned several times in scripture. It is personalized in Isaiah 51:9 - Awake, awake, put on strength O Arm of the LORD; awaken as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Are you not it that has cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon?”
Therefore we are being shown that the Mimra is God’s Arm, thus identifying the arm in Isaiah 53:1 as the LORD’S Mimra who suffers for the people to procure their salvation, which as we have seen is one of the Mimra’s functions.
The word Metatron is another word that is used for the Mimra, and in the Talmud is equivalent to LORD. “And He sits in the holiest of Holies and acts as God’s emissary (Sanhedrin 38b, Hagigah15a, Avoda Zara 36) from The Messiah in the Old Testament in the Light of Rabbinical Writings by Risto Santala
The Apostles had no problem recognizing that Jesus is God’s Mimra.
Because the ancient writings so supported Christianity, they are downplayed and hidden for the most part; and some of them, especially concerning Isaiah 53, were deliberately changed from the traditional interpretations that supported Jesus as the suffering servant who redeems Isaiah’s people (verse 8). This is dishonest theology at best, and downright evil. This is also why in today’s translations of the Targum, the personalizations of the Mimra that appear in the originals are deliberately removed.
The fifty-third chapter of Isaiah’s prophecy that describes the Messiah’s suffering for the sins of the people, consists of two questions; “Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD revealed?” The first question is an indication that the gospel message contained in Isaiah’s prophecy would be unbelievable to some. Therefore the second question answers the first; the “arm” of the LORD would have to be “revealed.” In other words, the LORD reveals His “arm” to those who He knows through His foreknowledge possess the humility to receive the truth of His message. Copyright 2014 by H.D. Shively